Washing machine for washing clothes and similar articles



May 1960 L. H. MADDOCK-CLEGG 2,938,365

WASHING MACHINES FOR WASHING CLOTHES AND S IMILAR ARTICLES Filed 001:.8, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 N VEN TOE Olga/M "add 4/5 A-EuT y 1960 H.MADDOCK'CLEGG 2,938,366

WASHING MACHINES FOR WASHING CLOTHES AND SIMILAR ARTICLES Filed Oct. 8,1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 I WENT eemaz Mam? W/ Hi5 AGE/V T y 1960 H.MADDOCK-CLEGG 2,938,366

WASHING MACHINES FOR WASHING CLOTHES AND SIMILAR ARTICLES Filed Oct. 8,1957 4 Sheets-Sheet s 5 m/vEA/ro:

M #0017 M- {Q #15. AGE/VT y 1, 1960 L. H. MADDOCK-CLEGG 2,938,366

WASHING MACHINES FOR WASHING CLOTHES AND SIMILAR ARTICLES Filed Oct. 8,1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 H15 A ENT United States atent O WASHING MACHINEFOR WASHING CLOTHES AND SIMILAR ARTICLES Lawrence Hamer Maddock-Clegg,Solihull, England, asslgnor to Fisher & Ludlow-Limited, a Britishcompany, Birmingham, England Filed Oct. 8, 1957, Ser. No. 688,885

2 Claims. (CI. 68-47) This invention relates to a washing machine forwashing clothes and similar articles and is concerned with thatparticular kind of machine which comprises an outer casing, a basketadapted to contain the clothes or other articles and mounted forrotational movement within the casing about a substantially horizontalaxis, the basket having an opening at one end thereof, the casing beingprovided with a door which is disposed in alignment with the open end ofthe basket, said door serving to permit of the clothes or the like beingpositioned in and removed from the basket, the machine furtherincorporating means for supplying washing liquid to and dischargingwashing liquid from the basket, together with means for impartingrotational movement, for example, unidirectional rotation, to the basketfor the purpose of effecting the washing of the articles therein.

Machines of the foregoing kind as hitherto made have not been adapted toeffect drying of the clothes either to the extent to enable them to beironed or to the extent of elfecting complete drying, the machines asnormally con- 'structed serving merely to remove surplus water bycentrifugal action whereupon a subsequent drying, usually by some formof airing operation, is necessary.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an improvedmachine of the foregoing kind which is capable of effecting drying ofthe clothes or other articles after the completion of the washingoperation, at least to an extent such that they are in a condition forironing.

A further object of the present invention is to provide clothes orfabric drying equipment which can readily be applied to existing as wellas to new machines of the foregoing kind and wherein the construction issuch as to enable a machine embodying such equipment to be provided inwhich the overall space occupied by the machine is not increased orsignificantly increased as compared with that occupied by a machine notprovided with the present invention. This is a feature of importance,having regard to the fact that machines of this kind are commonly usedin kitchens or other parts of houses with restricted overall space.

A further object of the invention is to provide clothes or fabric dryingequipment for attachment to existing washing machines whereinobservation of the washing and drying operations can be continuedthrough a transparent panel, notwithstanding the fact that the dryingequipment is fitted to the machine.

In accordance with the present invention we provide for attachment to awashing machine clothes or fabric drying equipment comprising an airsupply duct which is open at one end to the atmosphere and which isconnected or adapted to be connected at its other end to a hole providedin the door of the machine, an air heater for heating the air passingthrough said air supply duct, a second air duct connected or adapted tobe connected to the ma chine so as to be in communication with theperiphery of the washing basket, air suction means connected to saidsecond duct and .means for closing said hole or the ad- 2,938,366Patented May 31, 1960 2 jacent end of the first mentioned duct whenconnected thereto against the ingress of washing liquid from theinterior of the machine when the machine is being used for washing, thearrangement being such that when the equip ment is in its operativerelationship with respect to the machine, pre-heated air which flowsinto the interior of the basket through the door hole at one end of saidbasket is sucked out from the periphery of the basket by said airsuction means through said second duct, from which it is discharged fromthe machine.

The objects of the invention may be realized by the means described indetail in the following specification.

The invention will appear more clearly from the following detaileddescription when taken in connection with the accompanying drawingsshowing by way of example a preferred embodiment of the inventive idea.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a washing machine fitted with dryingequipment in accordance with the present invention, part of the machinebeing broken away to show the equipment more clearly.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional side elevation showing a part of thedrying equipment fitted to a Washing machine.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary section-a1 elevation taken on the line 33 ofFigure 2, showing the form of air suction means.

Figure 4 is a sectional side elevation of the air supply duct and itsassociated heater.

Figure 5 being a front elevational view thereof.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view showing a valve fitted at theentrance to the second air duct and Figure 7 is a plan view thereof.

Figure 8 is a sectional view of a plug used for closing the dooropening.

Referring firstly to Figure 1, a washing machine for washing clothes andother fabrics comprises the usual outer casing 10 of generallyrectangular configuration, in the upper part of which is disposed aninner cylindrical casing 11 which is adapted to receive the washingliquid. The axis of said cylindrical casing 11 is horizontal and withinsaid inner casing is mounted a clothes receiving basket 9 of hollowcylindrical configuration and adapted for rotation about a horizontalaxis. Said basket 9 is open at one end 9a adjacent the front side of themachine and the outer casing 10 of said machine is provided with theusual door 12 hinged about a vertical axis adjacent one lateral sidethereof, said door being provided centrally with a circular transparentpanel in alignment with at least the center portion of the basketopenmg.

The machine would be provided with the usual electric motor (not shown)for effecting rotational movement of said basket at two differentspeeds, namely, a lower washing speed in the course of which thearticles are tumbled inside the basket and a higher centrifuging speedduring which the excess rinsing water is centrifugally extracted.

The machine would further be provided with means for supplying hot andcold water thereto, together with, as is customary with this particularform of machine, automatic electrically operated control meanscontrolled by a settable timing device whereby the washing, rinsing, andcentrifuging operations may be performed automatically at predeterminedtime intervals once the operation of the machine has been initiated, themachine controls being grouped together as indicated generally byreference numeral 13 at theback of the top of the machine.

At the top of the machine would be provided the usual opening 14 forsupplying a predetermined quantity of washing material such as soappowder through the top of the inner casing 11 into the interior thereof,said opening being in the form of a short tube extending between theinner and outer casings. The outer end of said soap supplying openingwould be closed by a spring loaded hinged lid. 7

Extending from one side of said soap supplying opening is an air duct 15constituting the second duct above referred to, such duct being ofcurved configuration so as to lie around the exterior of the adjacentside of the inner cylindrical casing 11 and being of elongated, forexample, rectangular form in cross section as may be seen from Figure l.Said duct 15 extends to a position within the interior ofthe outercasing near the base of the machine'and there communicates with theperiphery of a substantially horizontally'extending tube 16, one end ofwhich extends to the front'of the machine. Said tube 16'contains aremovable filter 17 of gauze type for collecting onits exterior lintfrom the clothes so as to prevent it from passing to the suction fan 18on the suction side of which the inner end of the filter tube 16 isconnected. Said filter 17 is mounted on one end of a plug 19 housedremovably in the adjacent front well of the outer casing, access to thefilter being obtained through a service door in the .outer casing of themachine.

The fan 18 is of the known type in which the inflow is directed axiallyand discharge directed peripherally and is driven by its own motor 20,which is in axial alignment therewith, the discharge port of the fan 18being connected to one end of a discharge tube 21, the opposite end ofwhich would be arranged externally of the room in which the machine islocated for the purpose above described. Said fan 18 would be arrangedto deliver the air along said pipe 21 at a sufiicient pressure as toeffect discharge therefrom against the pressure of the surroundingatmosphere.

The door 12 which, in this particular embodiment, is provided with atransparent panel through which the washing operations may be viewed isformed centrally witha hole 22 (see Figure 4). Mounted in said hole 22and in alignment with the axis of rotation of the washing basket is asocket member 23 provided with slots of the bayonet type so as to beadapted to receive one end of an air supply duct 24, this duct being thefirst men- .tioned air supply duct above referred to.

Said duct 24 is of generally elongated configuration comprisingconcentric inner and outer ducts 25 and 26,

is adapted to be detachably connected to the door panel socket 23aforesaid, the laterally directed opening having an outwardly projectingpin 28 which may be entered into the slot of the bayonet connectionprovided in the socket 23. The two concentric ducts 25 and 26 are incommunication with each other at the free or in situ lower end of theinner duct 25, as may be seen in Figure 4, and the outer duct 26 has anair inflow opening 29 at the upper end thereof.

Within the inner duct 25 is arranged an air heater 30, this being of theelectric resistance type provided with a flexible lead 31, which may beconnected by means of a plug 32 to an electric socket convenientlyprovided on the front of the machine casing 10. The arrangement is suchthat during the washing operation the air supply duct or unit 24 isremoved completely from the machine and the socket member 23 closed by aremovable liquid tight plug 47 (see Figure 8) having a closed end 48 andbeing provided with a pin or spigot 49 for enteringthe bayonetconnection in the socket 23.

- .During the drying operation the unit 24 would be mounted in positionso that it extends in a downward radial direction in relation to thecenter of the door 12, as shown in Figure l, and we may provide means(not shown) for locating said unit 24 in thisvertically dependingposition. Alternatively, the unit 24 may extend across a substantiallyvertical diameter of the door but in elther case the arrangement may besuch that the door can be opened with the unit 24 attached thereto.

The outer duct 26 of the unit 24 may, if desired, be provided with someform of heat insulating covering, although this is not essential in viewof the provision of this outer duct which serves to insulate the heater30 from the surrounding atmosphere.

Thus, with the unit 24 mounted on the door of the machine and the fan 18and heater 30 switched on, preheated air will be sucked out of theperipheryof the inner casing 11, i.e. through the periphery of thewashing basket which is provided in the usual manner with a large numberof peripheral holes, the heated air entering the interior of the innercasing 1 1 and basket along the cen tral longitudinal axis thereof fromthe air supply duct unit 24.

We may, if desired, provide a timingswitch (not shown) for controllingthe operation of the fan driving motor 20 so that once the dryingoperation has been initiated, it continues for a predetermined time andis then automatically arrested without any further intervention on thepart of the user. This timing switch would serve to control the circuitsof both the fan motor 20 and the heater 30 and maybe so arranged as toout off the heater circuit a short while before, instead ofsimultaneously with, the fan motor circuit so as to utilize residualheat in the heater and thereby carry out the drying operation with themaximum economy. This arrangement also avoids undue overheating of theheater element which might otherwise occur if the heater were energizedwith the fan .18 not running. a

As a further precaution, we also provide in association with thecircuitto the heater 30 a thermally responsive trip switch 33, which isconnected to the heater 30 in the known manner in order to cut off theheating current in the event of the heater temperature rising too high.A second thermally responsive trip switch 9, is provided on thedischarge side of the fan 18 and is similarly connected to the heatercircuit.

The machine would be provided in the known manner with a manuallyoperated two-position master control switch which, in one position, setsthe machine for washing, followed by centrifugal spin drying of theclothes, and in another position sets the machine for hot air drying ofthe clothes in the manner already described, and the timing switch abovereferred to would be arranged in series with this master control switch,the arrangement being such that the master control switch would be setto the hot air drying position so as to drive the basket at washing,i.e. tumbling, speed and under the control of the'timing switch.

Referring now to Figures 6 and 7, there is shown therein a'valvearrangement adapted to provide connections between the interior of theinner casing 11 and the soap inlet to the machine or, alternatively, theinterior of the second duct 15. Said valve comprises an outer cup shapedmember 34, which is stationarily mounted in a rubber moulding 35 atfixedto the top of the inner casing 11; Said cup shaped member 34 has a flatbase portion 36 and a downwardly depending cylindrical wall portion 37.Mounted for rotational movement about a vertical axis within saidcylindrical wall portion 37 is a further cup shaped member 38, alsoprovided, as shown, with a flat base portion and a cylindrical wallportion. Affixed to the upper side of the fiat base portion of themember 38 is a sealing washer 39 and the two relatively movable members34 and 38 are urged into contact over their flat base portions by meansof the spring 40. In both the flat base portions of the two members 34and 38 are cut a plurality of spaced apertures 41, the arrangement beingsuch that the two'series of apertures may beplaced in alignment witheach other by rotating the inner member 38 .by means of the upwardlyprojecting member 42, said aeaasee member 42 being connected by means ofa suitable linkage 43 to an operating lever 44, as shown in Figure l.The cylindrical wall portions of the two members 34 and 38 are also eachprovided with a series of spaced apertures or slots 45 and these mayalso be brought into alignment with each other by rotating said innermember 38 with respect to the outer member 34. The arrangement is suchthat with the two series of apertures 41 in the flat base portions ofthe members 34 and 38 in alignment with each other, the other two seriesof apertures 45 in the cylindrical wall portions of said members 34 and38 will not be in alignment with each other. Thus, in one position ofthe rotatable inner member 38 a connection is made between the interiorof the cylindrical casing 11 and the exterior casing of the machine sothat soap powder or other washing material may be admitted into thecasing 11 via the soap container 46 formed over its bottom surface to agrid-like configuration. Since the washing basket 8 is disposed withinthe interior of the casing 11 the said two series of apertures 41 whenin alignment with one another provide the outer casing 10 with an inletopening which is adapted to supply soap to the washing basket within theinner casing 11. When it is desired to initiate the drying operation,the valve operating lever 44 is moved to rotate the inner valve member38 so that the two series of apertures 41 are moved out of alignment,thus bringing into alignment the two series of apertures 45. In thisposition a connection is made between the interior of the casing 11 andthe interior of the duct 15 thereby placing the end of duct 15 adjacentthe aforementioned soap inlet opening in communication with the interiorof the casing 11 and thus with the interior of the washing basket 8through the open end 8a thereof which is adjacent the front side of themachine as already mentioned. Such connection of the duct 15 to theinterior of the washing basket 8 serves to efiect drying in the mannerabove described.

With the machine in a condition for drying, the only projection beyondthe front wall of the machine is that ofiered by the removable airheater unit 24, i.e. a projection of some 2" to 3 only, which in no wayinterferes with the free passage of the operator past the front of themachine, which is a feature of importance where, as is commonly thecase, space is restricted. At the same time the invention can readily beapplied to existing as well as to new machines of the particular formdescribed.

The starting switch for the main or basket driving motor (not shown)would preferably be of the centrifugal type so arranged as to preventthe heater circuit being closed until the basket driving motor hasreached a predetermined speed at which the circuit to the starterwindings is opened so as to avoid overloading of the supply circuitwhich might otherwise occur if the basket driving motor is started fromrest simultaneously with the switching on of the heater circuit.

Provision would also preferably be made for ensuring that in the eventof the main basket driving motor ceasing to operate the current supplyto the resistance heater is cut off so that undesirable overheating ofthe clothes consequent on stoppage of the main motor is avoided.Further, an additional refinement in association with the air heatercircuit may be a glow lamp adapted to provide a visual indication to theoperator when the air heater is switched on.

To facilitate the application of the invention to existing machines, themotor 20, fan 18, and filter assembly 17 may all be constructed as asub-assembly adapted for mounting on the machine chassis.

With the present invention it is found possible after spin orcentrifugal drying in the known manner to dry in a condition for ironingsome 8 lbs. of clothes in a machine of the specific form referred toadapted for domestic use within the period 50-70 minutes, while, if

6 desired, by continuing the drying operation the clothes may becompletely dried, and the design or" the heater may be such as to givean air delivery temperature to the basket of the order of 250 F. and anexhaust temperature into the discharge pipe 21 of the machine of aboutF.

What I claim then is:

1. In a washing machine having an outer casing, a washing basketrotatable about a horizontal axis within said casing and a door in thecasing providing access to the basket, the provision of fabric dryingequipment comprising in combination a detachable air supply duct open atone end to the atmosphere and adapted to be connected at its other endto a hole provided in the door of the machine, an electrically operatedair heater disposed within said air supply duct for heating the airpassing therethrough, a second air duct fixed in position within saidouter casing, said outer casing having an inlet opening adapted tosupply soap to the washing basket, one end of said second air ducthaving an air supply opening communicating with the surroundingatmosphere and being adapted at its other end to communicate with theinterior of the washing basket adjacent said soap inlet, valve means forcontrolling the communication of said other end of said duct with saidwashing basket interior, said valve means operating to close said soapinlet when the second air duct is in communication with the interior ofthe washing basket and to close said second air duct when the soap inletis open, air suction means connected to said second air duct, and meansfor closing said hole in the door of the machine when said air supplyduct is removed therefrom.

2. In a washing machine having an outer casing, a washing basketrotatable about a horizontal axis within said casing and a door in thecasing providing access to the basket, the provision of fabric dryingequipment comprising in combination a detachable air supply duct open atone end to the atmosphere and adapted to be connected at its other endto a hole provided in the door of the machine, an electrically operatedair heater disposed within said air supply duct for heating the airpassing therethrough, a second air duct fixed in position within saidouter casing, said outer casing having an inlet opening adapted tosupply soap to the washing basket, one end of said second air ducthaving an air supply opening communicating with the surroundingatmosphere and being adapted at its other end to communicate with theinterior of the washing basket adjacent said soap inlet, valve means forcontrolling the communication of said other end of said duct with saidwashing basket interior, said valve means operating to close said soapinlet when the second air duct is in communication with the interior ofthe washing basket and to close said second air duct when the soap inletis open, an air filter unit connected to said second air duct, access tosaid air filter unit being obtained through an aperture provided in thefront of the casing, air suction means connected to said air filter unitand in communication with said second air duct through said filter unit,an exhaust duct fixed within said casing and connected at one end tosaid air suction means and having an aperture for discharging airexternally of the casing, and a removable plug for closing said hole inthe door of the machine when said air supply duct is removed therefrom.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,555,268 Chamberlin May 29, 1951 2,608,003 Tucker Aug. 26, 19522,629,810 Ditlow Feb. 24, 1953 2,737,799 Knipmeyer Mar. 13, 19562,827,783 Handley Mar. 25, 1958

